Weekly Newsletter

TORn headed to Queenstown, NZ for ‘Hobbit’ reporting

With the pages falling off the calendar of time remaining in The Hobbit filming schedule, TheOneRing.net is heading to Queenstown (for starters) for more coverage.

Writer and photographer Larry D. Curtis (MrCere@TheOneRing.net) will be a one-man news production team for two weeks, starting November 30 when he touches down at the Queenstown airport. His journey will also take him to Wellington to mark the one year countdown before the world premiere of the first Hobbit film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in 2012 along with visits to friends of TORn (such as our own founder Tehanu) and can’t-miss public sites like the Weta Cave.

Curtis (known by the handle MrCere on the site) also plans to meet with as many fans as possible while in the area, including at un-official but hopefully frequent moot events, so if interested in attending or hosting, please contact him at the email above. The always all-volunteer and not-for-profit TheOneRing.net would also appreciate anybody who has great information or tips on inexpensive places to stay (no haystack ruled out!) or eat while in New Zealand.

The trip, not officially sanctioned by any entity, with no promise of access to set or actors, is important to TheOneRing.net, to mark the one-year countdown and to give readers a closer glimpse of New Zealand’s South Island while the on-location shooting is taking place. This is a completely grass-roots effort and TORn is interested in getting the on-the-ground fan experience, talking to any available LOTR alumni and starting the countdown to The Hobbit. After all, as part of serving fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, it is what TORn is and has done for the last 12 years. The event is also meant to give fellow fans in New Zealand a chance to be heard as two potential billion dollar movies film in their backyard. In fact, some fan-event initiatives may also be announced from New Zealand.

You can follow the daily adventures of TORn’s own MrCere right here at TheOneRing.net, on TORn’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheOneRingnet) and at @MrLDC and @TheOneRingnet on Twitter. Spy reports and news tips should continue to be sent to SpyMaster@TheOneRing.net but if in doubt feel free to send it to MrCere as well (MrCere@TheOneRing.net in case you missed it). Curtis has 17 years of journalism experience covering films and film festivals include a decade of service here at TheOneRing.

Interested in sponsoring or contributing to the trip? We are open to all possibilities so feel free to drop us a line.

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